TAUNTING FULHAM MAKE LIFE ROUGHER FOR RAFA

EVERY 'Ole' screamed from the Fulham fans as they saw their team toy with Liverpool in the final few minutes will have felt like a stab through the heart for boss Rafa Benitez.

Just a week after beating Manchester United to give Liverpool hope that they might just be able to haul themselves back into the title race, they fell apart at Craven Cottage.

By the end, it was an utter shambles as the Reds ended the game with just nine men - after Philipp Degen and Jamie Carragher were sent off.

It is now five defeats in 11 league games for Liverpool - and all the good work that went into beating United has gone to waste.

The brief revival of their title chances is already over after this.

Sixth defeats in seven games is crisis form. It was the manner of defeat that revealed Liverpool surely have no hope of making up ground on their rivals.

Indeed, on this evidence the major objective for the remainder of the season will be to make sure they qualify for Champions League football.

Failure to do that would surely end Benitez's reign.

True, Liverpool's growing injury list has made an impact. But no side of their stature can blame injuries. The squad should be big enough, and good enough, to cope.

But it isn't. It has long been the case that Liverpool rely too much on Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres - and it is surely an indictment of Benitez managerial skills that he either refuses to see it or has failed to rectify it in the transfer market.

And those who suggested that he undermined the team's chances by letting Xabi Alonso go in the summer are now being vindicated.

Devilment

With no Gerrard - he will find out this week if he needs a groin operation - there was no drive or devilment in the middle of the park.

And once Torres - who is carrying a niggling injury, left proceedings in the 63rd minute having equalised Bobby Zamora's opener - Liverpool were toothless in attack.

When Carragher followed Degen down the tunnel in the 82nd minute, they became rudderless with no chance of even salvaging a point.

The cost of sacking Benitez and his entourage could be as much as £20million - and given the club's current financial position they cannot afford that. But they might have to think again on that front - given how much the failure to make the Champions League would cost them in income.

And this week Liverpool could face early exit from that competition if they lose in Lyon on Wednesday.

Such an outcome really would make Bentiez's position perilous - with Kenny Dalglish, back at the club in ambassadorial role, a contender to take the reins until a long-term successor, such as Jose Mourinho, is found at the end of the season.

Benitez still seems to retain the enthusiastic support of the fans but even the loyalists must be starting to wonder whether Rafa has the solutions to save Liverpool's season from imploding.

He hardly exuded any confidence on that front as he struggled to come to terms with the significance of this defeat.

Acid test

It's a hollow argument to talk about injuries or complain about the red cards. Fulham were without several first-teamers but rose to the occasion in some style.

In the wake of last week's morale boosting win over United, this was always an acid test of Liverpool's ability to re-boot their season. But after a promising start yesterday, they failed the test miserably.

TORRES: Dejected as Reds are beaten

Yossi Benayoun came close to giving them the lead in the 22nd minute but his snap-shot from just inside the box rose just a bit too sharply and the ball thudded back off the bar.

Two minutes later, Fulham went up the other and took the lead with their first meaningful attack.

Damien Duff curled over a cunning cross from the left that cut out Carragher and caught Greek centre-half Sotirios Kyrgiakos day dreaming.

It was only Kyrgiakos' second league start - and it showed as he failed to react or have the radar to realise Zamora was hovering behind him.

Zamora had been guilty of missing a sitter in Monday's draw at Manchester City but he displayed great poise to stroke a side-foot shot past Pepe Reina.

That boosted his confidence to prove a constant threat to the Reds defence.

Liverpool's response was lacklustre but the brilliance of Torres again dragged them back into the game.

The anonymous Andriy Voronin nodded the ball forward nowhere in particular three minutes before the break - but luckily for Liverpool it bounced back off the body of Fulham centre-half Aaron Hughes straight to the fearsome right foot of Torres on the edge of area.

Reckless

In one sweet moment, Torres lashed a volley low inside Mark Schwarzer's right-hand post. That was a majestic strike but it failed to inspire Liverpool.

Fulham, on the other hand, stepped up two gears in the second half despite losing Duff and Jonathan Greening with replacements Erik Nevland and Zoltan Gera both making significant impacts.

In the 73rd minute, after Paul Konchesky had robbed Dirk Kuyt and crossed from the left, Gera headed back across the face and Nevland applied a deft close-range finish.

Five minutes later, Degen was shown a red card for a reckless lunge on Clint Dempsey. Carragher followed him four minutes later. The Liverpool skipper had earlier escaped any punishment when he seemed to bring down Zamora in the box. But ref Lee Mason had no hesitation this time after Carragher wrestled Zamora to the ground when clear on goal.

To add insult to injury, the Fulham fans chanted "We want four" after Dempsey on 87 minutes played a wonderful one-two with Nevland, strolled into the box and lashed the ball home.

Yes, Fulham were in Never Neverland - but for Liverpool it was a proper Halloween horror.

• BENITEZ HIT IN THE GHOULIES

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